


Half-Asleep

by WednesdayTheWriter



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Light-Hearted, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27631946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WednesdayTheWriter/pseuds/WednesdayTheWriter
Summary: When Roman's distraught after getting into a fight with Remus, Virgil decides to play their favorite movie to help.
Kudos: 10





	Half-Asleep

Virgil yawned, laying back in his bed. He stared at the ceiling, wishing he could fall asleep. Being the literal embodiment of anxiety was unhelpful sometimes. Why couldn’t he just fall asleep like everyone else? He sighed, giving up on going to sleep, and picked up his phone to play Tetris. He hadn’t told anyone about his enjoyment of the game, since they’d probably make a Big Thing out of it. The only side that knew was Janus, who had introduced him to Tetris after reading a study about how it was helpful for anxiety. Virgil shook his head, sighing. Thinking about Janus was painful, even now. He listened absentmindedly to the Tetris theme song as he played, electronic music and… yelling? He paused. The yelling wasn’t coming from his phone. It was coming from the main room. He stood up, walking over to his door to listen. Someone was in the main room, yelling about something. Virgil listened for another minute and concluded that it was Roman, based on the amount of nonsense words he’d managed to fit into his sentences. He slowly opened his door and walked silently down the hallway and into the main room. Roman had stopped yelling, and was sitting with his head in his hands on the couch. 

“You… uh… you good?” asked Virgil. Roman jumped. 

“What? Oh! Uh. I wasn’t aware that I was, uh… being that loud. Sorry,” he said awkwardly. 

“S’fine, I was awake anyway,” said Virgil. “Did something happen, or…?” 

“Just Remus being Remus. It’s fine,” said Roman quickly.

“Wait, was he here?” 

“Yeah, like, a few seconds ago.” 

“Uh, no offense, but why didn’t you go into your room?” 

Roman looked at the floor. “It’s next to Patton’s room. I was worried he’d hear, and… I dunno. He needs sleep. In hindsight it would have made more sense to go into my room, I guess, but I was… distraught.”

“Oh.” Virgil awkwardly walked over and sat on the couch next to Roman. “So, uh. What happened, exactly?”

“Remus just said…” Roman started. “...Never mind. It isn’t all that important anyway.”

“Ah.” 

“It was just an argument. He came here because he left something on the coffee table. Just a brotherly argument, I guess.”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Virgil glanced at Roman and noticed that his hands were shaking slightly. 

“Here.” Virgil reached into his pocket and pulled out a stress ball, which he handed to Roman. Roman hesitated. “Just take it.” Roman took the ball from Virgil’s hand, staring at it as if it was an alien artifact. 

“Thank you.” He squeezed the stress ball silently for a few minutes, and just as Virgil was about to stand up, Roman spoke again. 

“Am I the most useless side?”   
Roman’s eyes widened in an expression that very clearly said that he didn’t mean to ask that question out loud. 

“What?” 

“Never mind, I didn’t mean…” He trailed off. Virgil felt a pang of anger as he realized.

“Did Remus say that?” 

“...Yeah.”

“I’m gonna kill him…” mumbled Virgil. 

“Mhm…” said Roman, staring off into space. 

Virgil sighed. “Want me to go get someone? I’m not very good at this.” 

“It’s fine. You’re… you’re fine. You can go back to bed,” said Roman. “I’ll be quiet.”

“Yeah. I… I probably shouldn’t, though.” 

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not, though,” said Virgil.

“...Oh,” said Roman, as if he wasn’t aware that he wasn’t fine. 

“Do you want to… never mind.”

"What?”

“It was a stupid idea,” said Virgil.

“I doubt that.” Seeing the surprised look on Virgil’s face, Roman quickly continued. “I… I mean, it can’t be worse than all of your other ideas, right?” he stammered.

“Well… I was wondering if, uh… well, we’ve got the TV in here, and I was wondering if it would help to watch Nightmare Before Christmas or something. It’s probably a stupid idea, but… I dunno. Whatever.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I know, it was a bad-“

“No, I mean really? Like, that’s okay?”

“Well yeah, I mean, it’s not like it’s my TV. But I might stick around and watch, just ‘cause… you know. It’s a great movie.”

“If you’re sure, that… that would be great.”

“M’kay.” Virgil reached for the remote and turned it on, flipping it to the movie. 

As the introduction began playing, Virgil noticed a small smile flicker across Roman’s lips. The two of them watched the movie for a while, and about halfway through, Virgil summoned a bowl of popcorn, which they both eagerly took handfuls of as they watched Sally escape from her home. As the movie continued to play, Virgil snuck a glance at Roman. He was smiling at the television, bouncing his leg up and down happily. 

“So… is this helping?” asked Virgil.

“Yeah, it’s really- hey look, it’s this part!” Roman pointed at the TV as Jack began singing from the broken sleigh, which had fallen out of the sky after being shot down. “I love this part, his voice is so good…” Roman said as he leaned back and watched, smiling. Virgil couldn’t help but crack a smile at the side’s enjoyment of the movie. 

As the last song played, Roman closed his eyes and leaned back for a moment, listening. As the credits began to roll, Virgil faded the sound and turned off the TV, then looked at Roman.

“Was… was that good?” asked Virgil.

“Mhm,” said Roman, staring at the TV screen happily. He glanced at the clock on the wall, and his eyes widened. “It’s 3:00 in the morning,” he said. Virgil chuckled softly. 

“The witching hour.” 

Roman smiled and put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil flinched for a moment, then relaxed as Roman gently gave it a small squeeze.

“Hey. Thank you,” said Roman.

“No problem,” said Virgil. 

Roman leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes, and Virgil smiled as he immediately fell asleep. Roman didn’t have the best sleep schedule, but he fell asleep a lot more easily than Virgil did. Virgil summoned a blanket and laid it out on top of the side, then turned around and walked back towards his room. 

“Night, Roman,” he said.

“Night,” said Roman softly, half-asleep. 

As Virgil opened his door, he realized that his anxiety had been calmed too. He yawned and laid down in his bed, falling asleep almost immediately, listening to the clock on his wall tick slowly.


End file.
